Province puts money behind crisis unit

Brandon Police Service’s newly formed crisis response unit got a major boost from the province Friday with the announcement of $290,000 in ongoing annual funding.

The funds will go to Prairie Mountain Health to support the response team, which includes two full-time police officers and three full-time mental health clinicians from PMH, along with peer support workers.

The crisis response unit (CRU) brings police officers and mental health clinicians together in a “meaningful way,” Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said at a Brandon press conference announcing the funding.

“This is about the right response at the right time delivered by the right people,” she said. “What that means … is safer, more appropriate responses to mental health crises. It means on-the-spot mental health supports, followup care and connections to services in the community.”

The unit has been sent to 116 calls for services since its implementation in October 2025, BPS police Chief Tyler Bates said.

Bates said there is always an officer and a mental health clinician on shift to respond to calls that relate to mental health.

“The compassionate care provided to vulnerable citizens in mental health crisis reinforces the concern that we have for those that are in distress. It reinforces the dedication that we have as a city, as service providers, to provide a humane, compassionate, supportive response to a health-care crisis,” Bates said.

He said CRU has built relationships and established trust with citizens who they deal with frequently.

“That trust is established, and the client knows that we are there to help. So that differs very much from patrol response, whereby you might be dealing with a different patrol officer each and every interaction.”

BPS Const. Amanda Conway, who is one of the CRU officers, has already seen positive impacts, she told the Sun after the press conference.

She said she believes there has been a reduction in the number of transports to Brandon Regional Health Centre for mental health purposes, and she has seen some repeat callers “dwindling off” once they are connected with the wraparound supports they need.

“I think those are the two goals that we’ve set out, and I think we’re meeting them baby steps at a time,” Conway said. “It is a work in progress, and it is headed in the right direction for sure.”

Conway said that while every situation is different, usually the clinician will take the lead and do an assessment to see whether the person needs to be connected with certain resources or if they can stay in the community with safeguards in place.

CRU will follow up with these individuals by stopping by their house or giving them a phone call.

“We can just provide that little extra level of service that’s going to get them connected where they need to be connected so that we can avoid future crisis,” she said.

With a background in social work, Conway said she finds being a part of the unit is a “great fit for me to actually use more of my skills on the social work side to be more effective in the role that I’m in now.”

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the unit reduces strain on emergency services and frees up first responders, paramedics and police to allow them to focus on “true emergencies and true crime prevention.”

“We know that this will stabilize individuals, give them that access to long-term supports that will be the key to getting to the root of the causes of crime,” he said.

Wiebe said it will also address the repeated calls for police involvement that are not only frustrating to law enforcement but also to the public.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com